Thai Treasures

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you may have seen me mention that my dad has just returned from a couple of months travelling around South East Asia, spending time mainly in Thailand and Myanmar. Should you wish, you can read more about his adventures plus some history about the places he visited here.

Before he left I asked him to keep a look out for some fabric for me. He’d brought me a few metres when he last went to Mexico, and I love the idea of getting my hands on some fabric that’s not available in the UK.

Let’s cut to the chase. My dad managed to find four fabrics to bring back for me. He carried them around with him for a good few weeks before returning home. I haven’t washed or pressed them yet, and imagine I’ll have to treat them quite delicately when I do.

1.

This one is labelled as Arina Batik (super quality!). It’s 118 x 200 cm and I have two of these pieces. The odd thing about this one is that two sides are hemmed together, so it forms a kind of tube (that you could step into, should you wish.) Do you have any idea why this is? I’m thinking I’ll just unpick/snip off the hem prior to using.

2.

I have two of these too, which state Made as Malaysia on the label. They’re the same size as the first and also stitched into a cylinder.

3.
I really like the pattern and colours on this one. It has a label printed into the pattern,

and I’d say there’s about two metres of it. This one came packaged with some matching plain purple cotton, so I think there would be enough for a contrasting skirt and bodice if I wanted.

4.

Finally, there’s 3 metres of this one – I’d given my dad strict guidelines that I needed 3m for a dress or 1.5-2m for a top (there’s no opportunity to nip back and get extra with these purchases!)

I’m not sure how clear it is from the photo, but unlike the other three this one isn’t cotton, it is textured and has a sheen to it, maybe like a crepe? I love the floral print and think this will make a lovely dress, possibly using something like a vintage pattern. This one cost around £7 per metre, so wasn’t as cheap as you might imagine.

I’d love to know which you like and why. Are there any patterns you think would lend themselves particularly well to these prints? Lastly, do you buy or source fabric from different countries?

Those are beautiful–I particularly love the one with label printed on it. I think I’d make a skirt out of that one (so you wouldn’t have a lot of seams to break up the design) and a blouse to go with it out of the purple.